HOUSING PROBLEMS

Housing Problems

Housing Problems

Liverpool City issues

The Liverpool City Centre residential market has been the subject of close scrutiny over recent years with LCC recognising the dynamic pace of change and the importance of ensuring that policy shapes rather than responds to change. Previous reports undertaken in January and December 2006 have highlighted the Centre's growing prominence in both the local and sub-regional economy. This has been fuelled by significant City Centre population growth and urban renewal, delivered alongside substantial investment in the City's failing suburban areas; specifically the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) areas.

This report identified trends in the city centre housing market and considered the interaction between the City Centre market and the market across the rest of the city. The study analysed the likely effects of expansion of City Centre development and outlined the core objectives for the HMR pathfinder areas. A number of important themes were identified through the study, including but not limited to:

The transient nature of the city centre population - Tenancies in the city centre rented sector are usually of short duration with nearly three quarters of residents claiming that they would move within 12 months. In addition around a quarter of residents claimed that they expected to live in Liverpool city centre in ten years, whilst one in five residents believed that they would be living in Liverpool's suburbs within ten years;

Importance of appreciating the wider context to the housing market - Tackling crime was identified as a major issue in relation to encouraging people to stay in Liverpool, as well as improving the perceptions, appearance and image of the city.

This report updated the previous research by Tribal and looked in more detail at a number of specific issues relating to the operation of the city centre market. This included examining the balance between housing demand from investors and owner occupiers. It also considered the implications of changes in these markets with regard to the “mix” of developments, particularly the balance between very small and larger units. A number of key issues were raised in the report, these included;

The housing market in the city centre remains dominated by one and two bedroom apartments with a relatively low level of larger properties coming forward;

Whilst the market remained strong the research indicated that developers have attempted to attract buyers to the city centre through offering financial incentives and considered marketing initiatives;

Whilst the majority of residents living within the city centre are either young professionals or students, there had been an increase in the number of older people moving into this market. It is towards this group, rather than towards the family market that the city centre market may be diversifying.

Significantly in light of the supply profile noted above there was an identified substantial demand for larger apartments, to cater for this older age group and for students who wish to share in larger groups. The impact of this shift in the target market was identified as potentially having implications ...